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Note 395.1 COMMUSIC Master Tape - Series I, Tape 1 1 of 6
-< Liner Notes >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following are liner notes for COMMUSIC Master Tape volume I,
tape 1.
Liner notes are broken down into several sections. The first section
is simply a song/artist list to include with your copy of the tape.
Sections following section 1 are submitters comments. These are
organized in the same order that songs appear on the tape.
WARNING -
All songs appearing on this tape or any tape in this series are to be
considered copyrighted by the submitter. No unauthorized use or
reproduction of any part of this material may be made without the
express written consent of the submitter(s) thereof. It is permissible
to make one copy of this tape for personal use.
DISCLAIMER -
Not responsible for typos in submitter's comments nor the technical
accuracy thereof. Any suggestions on the either the liner notes or the
COMMUSIC tape itself should be forwarded to DYO780::SCHAFER.
==============================================================================
COMMUSIC Master Tape Series volume I, tape 1
Side 1
1. Just For Kicks Dave Bottom
2. Sometimes You Hurt Your Friends Dave Bottom
3. Bridge To Nowhere Dave Bottom
4. Introduction: From Songs Of Innocence John Arnold
5. Once A Year John Arnold
6. Hostage Of Nature John Arnold
7. Blend Trend Todd Rhodes
8. A001R Todd Rhodes
9. Alphaville Karl Moeller
Side 2
1. Toccatta Karl Moeller
2. Burning Passion Dave Dreher
3. I Can't Wait Dave Dreher
4. Acapulco Dave Dreher
5. I'm Sorry (That I Fell In Love With You) Edd Cote
6. One More Chance Paul Kent
7. Life Paul Kent
8. Chain Kisser Derek Speed (DLQ)
9. You're A Tease Derek Speed (DLQ)
10. I Met Your Parents Derek Speed (DLQ)
11. Fistful Of Passion Derek Speed (DLQ)
===========================================================================
===========================================================================
DAVE BOTTOM (MTBLUE::BOTTOM_DAVID)
-----------
I have submitted three pieces:
Just for Kicks
guitar: rhythm: strat
lead: Fender lead one/kahler tremelo system
bass: JX3-P
drums: TR-707
amp: Fender studio lead
DDL: Ibanez DM-1000
vocals recorded through AKG D130
Sometimes you hurt your friends
guitar: Fender strat
amp: Fender studio lead
bass: Yamaha ??
drums: TR 707
synth: JX3-P
DDL: Ibanez Dm-1000
vocal mike : AKG D130
Bridge to nowhere
synth: Jx3-P
guitar: Fender lead one
drums: TR-707
All songs recorded on my Tascam 234 using a PE-20/EX-20 mixer system
(very basic). Mastered on a Pioneer CTF-1000 using a dbx 128 dynamic
range processor/noise reduction system.
Apologies for the distortion in bridge to nowhere, it was my first
recording and the master is now destroyed, unfortunately the guitar solo
was very satisfactory in my opinion. (and is now lost other than this
version saved on a rough mix tape)
===========================================================================
JOHN ARNOLD (BIZET::ARNOLD)
-----------
Three Songs - John E. Arnold
==============================
Introduction: From Songs of Innoncence
Words: William Blake
Music: John E. Arnold
J.A. - Flutes, acoustic guitar, vocals
Once A Year
Words and Music: John E. Arnold
J.A. - Acoustic guitar, bass guitar, vocals, sleigh bells
G.A. - Organ (Hammond M-3), synthesizer (Mini-Korg)
Hostage of Nature
Words and Music: John E. Arnold
Reading is from "Life and Campaigns of Napolean", Phillips,
Sampson, & Company, Boston, 1856
J.A. - Acoustic guitar, vocals
G.A. - Synthesizer, bass synthesizer (both Mini-Korg), reading,
processed percussion (i.e., the gong is a slowed down
crash cymbal being struck with a felt mallet)
D.H. - Processed triangle (i.e., pitch change was done manually
on the tape recorder)
==============================
Recorded November - December, 1979. Equipment included a Teac 2340SX
4-track reel-to-reel with dbx II, Teac Model 2A mixer, and a Pioneer
RT-701 Reel-to-Reel (for intermediate mixdowns and final mix) with
dbx II.
All songs arranged and produced by the Arnold Bros. in association
with D.H. Perrin.
All selections: Copyright 1979 John E. Arnold
Performance copyright 1979 John E. Arnold
^
|_ (i.e., "p in circle")
appear with permission of the copyright owner.
===========================================================================
TODD RHODES (BARNUM::RHODES)
-----------
Liner notes for Todd Rhodes - Water Street Studios, Framingham Ma.
I. Musical background:
A drummer by background, I started drum lessions at age 9 and played
in the band/orchestra in elementary school. Got an accordian and
took lessions for a year at age 11. Realized that I liked drumming
better. Got my first drum kit and age 14 (small japanese junker),
and hacked around in a small rock band in junior high school.
Played in the high school stage (jazz) band, and also in a rock band.
In 1980, I left my drumset behind, and took off to EE school at the
University of Massachusetts, Amherst. By graduation in 1984,
I was very itchy (to say the least) to compose and perform music
after being strictly a listener for 4 years. Got a guitar, echobox,
fuzzbox, volume pedal, and Synsonic drum box, and started recording.
The studio grew from there.
II. Studio description:
1. Recording:
I use (2) 7.5" 2-track reel-to-reel tape decks, and utilize
a bounce-and-add technique using a 6-to-2 mixer between
the decks. Also have a Kenwood Cassette deck used to
put the final reel-to-reel version onto cassette format.
2. Musical Instruments:
1. (1) Hand made solid body (ash) guitar with an Aria
neck. It has (2) Super-II pickups, and one Arp Avatar
hex pickup.
2. (1) Arp Avatar guitar synth. Just an Oddessey controlled
by a guitar rather than a keyboard. It is two voice
(three including the guitar itself) monophonic.
3. (1) Simmons SDS-8 non-midi drum synthesizer. Played
in real-time and also by an Arp Sequencer.
4. (1) Arp Sequencer to sequence the Avatar. Output control
voltages also happen to be compatible with the SDS-8
triggering inputs.
5. (1) Commodore 64 interfaced with Sequential Circuits
keyboard. Commodore sound chip is 3-voice polyphonic
digitally controlled analog, each voice with its own
ADSR (not too shabby). DCF is noisy and mis-designed,
so I put it through the ARP's. (Of course this means
no filter tracking.)
6. (1) Mattel (No comment necessary) Synsonics drum box
with builtin (primitive) sequencer. No longer used.
7. Misc. Zildjian cymbals
8. Noname brand crummy mic for recording percussion.
3. Effects:
1. (1) Fuzz box. Home made.
2. (1) DOD analog delay/echo unit. Mono in/stereo out.
narrow bandwidth (~6k), and noisy.
3. (1) Boss volume pedal. Used mostly to smoothly blend
a sound into the above echo box.
4. (1) Neptune rack mount mic/instrument mixer with a spring
reverb. Reverb is absolutely gross.
5. (1) Midiverb. Purchased after I recorded my submissions.
6. Aaron-Gavin Instruments 10-band stereo Graphic equalizer
III. Submitted Music
Song #1 - "Blend Trend"
First recorded drums using the SDS-8's, and then added the
guitar and bass through the echo box. I believe that there
are only three tracks. Done as a texture experiment.
Song #2 - "A001R" (named after my CRX's Yokohama tires that *really*
stick)
First recorded the intro using the guitar/Avatar and SDS-8's.
The Avatar was used for bass and background_melody in unison.
After finishing the intro, I threw a switch (in real time) to
start the sequenced (via the Arp sequencer) drums, and went
immediately into the main body of the song. Later mixed in
a ride cymbal track and a 2nd drum track.
Todd Rhodes, Water Street Studios (a.k.a. "Budget Studios")
===========================================================================
KARL MOELLER (CANYON::MOELLER)
------------
ALPHAVILLE 10:38 long.
An extended semiimprovisation in a pseudoromantic style, Alphaville
began as a stereo solo piano track recorded on a TEAC 3340. Later
received two tracks of (in various spots) string/horn/harpsichord
using a Crumar Orchestrator. Added Juno 106 wind sounds during mix
to stereo. Added bass line during stereo dub back to 4-track. Added
a high plucked-string patch using DX7. Added rhythmic chordal punches
at the climax near the end using both the DX7 and Juno. Mixdown to
stereo. The original 4chord theme is reprised on piano only, with
only the wind sound to fade.
Does it work? I've heard nothing like it, stylistically, ever. It
feels like a modern piano concerto, except that the orchestra is
comprised of synths. It's almost 2 years old now and is probably
still my favorite.
TOCCATTA 4:30 long.
A short pseudobaroque rock instrumental on several themes, Toccatta
contains more harmonic motion than most of my stuff. The original
track was a DX7 on Perc Clav patch MIDI'd to a Juno on whatever.
A track of Juno strings, phased, then 2 tracks of hand-played MXR
digital drums. Rhodes added (faintly in the left channel) during
mixdown to stereo. Dubbed back to 4-track. 2 tracks of Crumar strings,
then mixdown to stereo; dubbed back to 4-track. Then a Crumar horn
track (left chan), and finally, a grand piano track, on which
I really lucked out, tuningwise.
This one's writing didn't come easy. The recording was a snap.
However, I punched in a couple of places on the original DX7 track
and it shows. Ignored in the heat of the moment. Adding the piano
at the end is a complete reversal of my normal recording method;
however, it freed the piano from carrying the rhythmic and
harmonic quackquack, and allowed it to 'float' atop all the
baroque intensity. I liked the DX patch, as it would really
crank when attacked. I like this one, too, and may redo it should
I ever sit down and compose a nice peaceful middle section
for it.
Karl Moeller SWS Tucson AZ
===========================================================================
DAVE DREHER (MASTER::DDREHER)
-----------
My tape contains three entries. Takes 1 and 3 are original
compositions. Take 2 is a cover tune. It was created
on a Tascam 122 cassette deck and no noise reduction was used.
The following text is a description of each take.
1) Burning Passion - by Dave and Ellen Dreher January 1986
All instruments were programmed or played by Dave Dreher.
All vocals by Ellen Dreher. Engineered and produced by D. Dreher
Equipment used:
Tascam 38 8-trk
Tascam 312 mixing board (12 X 4 X 2)
Roland SDE-3000 digital delay
Effectron 256 digital delay
ART 01a digital reverb
DBX 160 Compressor
Biamp 210 stereo equalizer
Byter Polysynch master clock
LinnDrum
Roland Jupiter-6 synth
Roland Juno-60 synth
Roland MD-8 DCB/MIDI interface (for Juno-60)
Roland MSQ-700 sequencer
Audio Technica ATM-41 microphone
Gallen Kruger 250ml guitar amp
Kramer guitar
TRACK 1 - Bass line (Jupiter, sequenced by MSQ-700)
TRACK 2 - Drums (LinnDrum)
TRACK 3 - Keys left (Juno and Jupiter, sequenced by MSQ-700)
TRACK 4 - Keys right (Juno and Jupiter, sequenced by MSQ-700)
TRACK 5 - Rythim guitar (Kramer thru G/K direct into board)
TRACK 6 - Lead guitar (Kramer thru G/K direct into board)
TRACK 7 - Lead Vocals (Ellen)
TRACK 8 - unused
2) I Can't Wait - by Nu Shoz April 1986
All instruments were programmed or played by Dave Dreher.
All vocals by Ellen Dreher. Engineered and produced by D. Dreher
Mirage programming and sampling by D. Dreher and Bob Peterson.
Drums were added on mixed down via LinnDrum off the synch track.
An addition stereo Juno synth line was added real time on mix down.
Equipment used:
Tascam 38 8-trk
Tascam 312 mixing board (12 X 4 X 2)
Roland SDE-3000 digital delay
Effectron 256 digital delay
ART 01a digital reverb
DBX 160 Compressor
DBX 166 Compressor/Noise gate
Biamp 210 stereo equalizer
Byter Polysynch master clock
LinnDrum
Roland Jupiter-6 synth
Roland Juno-60 synth
Roland MD-8 DCB/MIDI interface (for Juno-60)
Roland MSQ-700 sequencer
Ensoniq Mirage sampling synth
Audio Technica ATM-41 microphone
Gallen Kruger 250ml guitar amp
Kramer guitar
Tamborine
Glass of water
TRACK 1 - Bass line (Jupiter, sequenced by MSQ-700)
TRACK 2 - Rythim guitar and piano (Kramer thru G/K direct into board,
bounced with Jupiter piano patch real time)
TRACK 3 - Horns, tamborine and glass of water (glass of water and
horns sampled by Mirage, sequenced by MSQ-700)
TRACK 4 - Choppy guitar (Kramer thru G/K direct into board)
TRACK 5 - Backing vocals (3 part harmony by Ellen)
TRACK 6 - Lead Vocals (Ellen)
TRACK 7 - Sampled voice (Mirage, sequenced by MSQ-700)
TRACK 8 - Synch tone (Byter polysynch to drive MSQ-700 and LinnDrum)
3) Acapulco - by Dave Dreher March 1985
All instruments were programmed or played by Dave Dreher. Engineered
and produced by D. Dreher. All synth parts were played real time.
This song was a 3-hr wonder between midnight and 3:00 AM.
Equipment used:
Tascam 244 4-trk
Roland SDE-3000 digital delay
Effectron 256 digital delay
Tacsam spring reverb
DBX 160 Compressor
Biamp 210 stereo equalizer
LinnDrum
Roland Jupiter-6 synth
Gallen Kruger 250ml guitar amp
Kramer guitar
TRACK 1 - Bass line and drums (Jupiter and LinnDrum)
TRACK 2 - Synth 1 (Jupiter)
TRACK 3 - Lead guitar (Kramer thru G/K direct into board)
TRACK 4 - Synth 2 (Jupiter)
===========================================================================
EDD COTE (MENTOR::COTE)
--------
Title: "I'm Sorry (That I Fell In Love With You)"
Arranged, Composed, Performed, Written and Recorded by: Edd Cote
Piano: Roland JX3-P
Flugelhorn: Yamaha DX21
Bass: Yamaha DX21
Drums: Yamaha RX-21
Sequencer Yamaha QX-7
Strings: Roland JX3-P
Piano, bass, flugelhorn and drums recorded in real time direct to cassette.
Strings added "cassette to cassette" overdub in real time.
No outboard effects used.
Drum programming by Edd Cote.
===========================================================================
PAUL KENT (MINDER::KENT)
---------
The second song LIFE (I,ve never had to give it a title before)
dates back to when I first bought my basic home setup, which is
about September 85. Mostly it evolves around the use of a TASCAM
144, an RX21, and a YAMAHA CX5. The only effects I had then
where an HH tape echo. I was pleased with it at the time but in
reflection could think of one or two ways of doing things
differently.
The first song I recorded with a cold, hence the voice. Since the
first recording I had added A CZ1000, Ibanez digital delay and a
Yamaha midi router. The drum snare sounds are given some false
reverb by adding a slow decayed percussion sound sequenced from
the CZ. I am seriously considering buying a CZ101 just for packing
in the case when I'me away from home, you can do some great things
with this machine. The Guitar is a very old Jap copy of a Les Paul
and is pretty much out of tune buy the end of the song. If I was
the perfectionist I ought to be, I would have re-recorded the last
lead guitar section.
Neither of the above songs were recorded using my latest
acquisition the MIDIVERB. I feel that this device alone has
created the biggest quantum leap in my recording ability, and
perhaps the next tape we create might reflect that. The next stage
I believe would be a bigger mixer than that on the 144. When the
band I was in at the time we bought it (about 6 year ago) we
thought that 4 tracks was a real luxury after the sound on sound
AKAI's etc. I still reckon I could get by on 4 tracks if I had a
reasonable way of getting more than 4 inputs to each track. So
next up is a 12-4-2 mixer I guess. Just wish I new where the money
was coming from.
===========================================================================
DEREK SPEED (ADVAX::SPEED)
-----------
Overview
The songs on the demo tape are a compilation of songs done by my band "The
DLQ", which is short for "The Desirable Location Quintet". The DLQ has
been together, on and off, for approximately 4 years. We got together
initially to compete in a "Battle of the Bands" at Worcester Polytechnic
Institute, where we were all engineering students. After winning the
"Battle", we decided that playing in a band was fun and continued to play
at colleges, clubs, parties, etc. for the next two years. We have recently
undergone some long and painful personnel changes and are still looking for
a lead vocalist. We are in the process of completing work on a personal
use 8 track studio (Studio 99) at the home of our bass player, complete
with separate rooms for recording and mixing.
All songs on the tape are originals written by various members of the DLQ.
Members of the band (and instruments played on this tape):
Greg Atkinson - lead and background vocals (no longer with the band)
John Breen - lead and rhythm guitar
Jack Calhoun - drums, lead and background vocals
Jeff Copeland - bass guitar and background vocals
Derek Speed - keyboards, lead and background vocals
Dwayne Shores (played guitar in Breen's absence)
"Chain Kisser" and "You're a Tease"
Both of these songs were recorded as demos in January 1985 at MCM Recording
Studios in Worcester, MA. The mixes on the tape are rough pre-mixes done
before the final mixdown. Engineering was done by their own engineer
(who's name escapes me), assisted by Derek and Jeff.
MCM gear:
Soundcraft 2400 series console
MCI 24 track analog multitrack recorder
UREI 813 "Time-Align" monitors with Crown DC300 amplification
Lexicon Super Prime Time Digital delay
Roland SDE1000 digital delay
Yamaha D1000 digital reverb
AKG spring reverb
dbx compressors
Neumann, AKG, Shure, Audio Technica and EV microphones
Keyboards used:
Roland JUNO-106 (recorded in stereo)
Casio 202 digital synthesizer (Lexicon used to create stereo image)
All keyboard parts are performed live (no sequencers)
Lexicon used for chorusing; D1000 and AKG reverbs both used.
Lead vocals on "Chain Kisser" - Jack Calhoun
Lead vocals on "You're a Tease" - Derek Speed
Guitar by Dwayne Shores.
Bass guitar was taken direct, through a dbx compressor and into the board.
Keys were also taken direct.
Drum mics: Kick - EV RE20
Snare - ATM 813
Hat - AKG C515 electret condenser
Toms - Shure SM57
Overhead (stereo) - AKG C515 electret condenser
Vocal Mic: Neumann U47 tube condenser
Guitar mic: Shure SM57
"I Met your Parents"
This song was one of our most popular when we were playing live. The
lines:
"I Like Sex
I Met Your Parents
I Like Sex
I'm clean, I'm bright, and athletic"
used to cause some controversy, needless to say.
"Parents" was recorded basically live in Derek's basement using a Fostex
X15 4 track cassette unit during the summer of 1985. No real effects
except those by the musicians on their own instruments. All instruments
were recorded simultaneously; vocals were overdubbed later. Mixing was
done on a Kelsey 12X3 mixer we used for live work. Microphones were EV and
Shure, with bass and keys going direct.
Keyboards - Roland JUNO-106 (no sequencers)
Lead vocals - Jeff Copeland and Greg Atkinson
Lead guitar - John Breen
"Fistful of Passion"
Recorded during the winter of 1985 at AAA Studios in Boston, MA. The mix
on the tape was done at MCM in Worcester, MA. Don't remember the names of
the engineers.
AAA gear:
Custom Allison recording console (phenomenal!)
Old Ampex 16 tack deck (2" tape)
Lexicon PCM41 digital delay
Lexicon series 200 digital reverb
dbx compressors
EMT plate reverb
Many other effects
Custom JBL monitors
Linn Drum machine
Scholz R&D Rockman
Shure, EV, Neumann, AKG microphones
Keyboards used: Casio 202 digital synthesizer (no sequencers)
Lexicon used for chorusing.
Keys, bass, Linn and guitar through Rockman were all taken direct into the
board. Drums were miked (sorry, don't remember the set-up).
Lead vocals: Greg Atkinson
Lead guitar: John Breen
===============================================================================
|
|
COMMUSIC VIII
The World's Most Dangerous Music
Welcome to the eighth COMMUSIC compilation tape. A hearty welcome to those who
are new submittors here! This tape has been compiled in no particular order,
mostly in the order that the submissions arrived. Any complaints about audio
quality of this tape should be directed to me.
Brian Rost
RICK RYEN
Foxy Lady
Fire
Riders on the Storm
Rick Ryen: guitars, sequencing, vocals, recording
John Gabrilli: vocals on "Riders"
Alan Starr: slide on "Riders"
Equipment: MT32, Proteus XR, Tascam 388, Shure SM58, Mesa amp, MC300
sequencer, Strat, Les Paul
KARL MOELLER
All three of my submissions involved original tracks on a Fostex
A8LR 8track, additional Kurzweil 1000PX and EMAX parts added via
MAC w/Performer, and were mixed to a Toshiba DX900 VHS deck in
14bit PCM format. These are the most recent pieces I had as of
when I mailed the cassette off to Brian Rost. Thanks, Brian!
- karl moeller Tucson Arizona USA
p.s. I notice that I've pre-reviewed each of the pieces submitted,
so you can just use mine.
"Ripping Off The Monks" 3:38 copyright c/p 1990 Karl Moeller
This is an atmospheric yet intense piece in F Phrygian (flat 2nd,
sharp 3rd, flat 6th) mode. I think. No chord changes. The vocals
were stolen from a Bulgariphon release called "Angeloglassniyat"
('angel-voiced'), written by a 14-century monk called John the
(you guessed it) Angel-voiced. The record isn't even an import,
it was given to me several years ago by a real Bulgarian Communist.
I'll bet he's changed his spots some since then. I took only one
channel from the record and mixed it to stereo with some highend EQ
rolloff, lots'o'reverb, and MIDIfex stereogen thickener.. going for
smooth. We don't have a copyright extradition treaty with Bulgaria,
do we ?
I first added bass & toms, recorded direct (no computer). The bass
line is a compound sound using KZ electric bass, with a velocity
switch to thumb pops, layered with a light, tuned KZ percussion sound,
which when run into my MIDIfex stereo delay patch 31, gives a nice
side-to-side syncopation. The toms are a combination of Kurzweil
and EMAX toms. The EMAX toms are a stereo layer, which when summed
to mono gives a nice subtle flanged sound, as well as some stick
definition. Part way into the piece the toms are run thru the
stereo delay, giving lots of stereo imaging and some killer
syncopation.
Then I added an FSK sync track, and played the remaining stuff into
MAC&Performer. The Kurzweil Singers kick in about half way into the
piece, followed by a MIDI-delayed KZ piano #17 track. It took lots of
playing with EQ and lots'o'mixes to get the proper balances, esp.
the delayed stereo toms vs. the repetitive bass line. I think this
one is 'sweeping and powerful'. Special thanks to John the
Angel-voiced, c/o Atman Central.
"Relentless" copyright c/p 1990 Karl Moeller
This was a (Kurzweil) Rhodes/bass echo improv on cassette, rescued,
EQ'd, and re-cued to 2 channels on the 8track. I then did the FSK
Sync thing, and recorded another 5 parts, incl. EMAX and Kurzweil
strings, and KZ 'echo lead' analog-sounding melody lead. Added an
EMAX stereo Fairlight breathy vocal pad. No percussion at all,
except for a light layer of tuned KZ percussion behind the Rhodes
and bass on the cassette original.
A favorite. Actually has chord changes. Probably needs compression
before it qualifies for radio play.
"Sunscape" copyright c/p 1990 Karl Moeller
The basic track for this also came from cassette, from '86 or '87,
using a Roland MKS-20 piano and a Kawai K3 sample & hold patch.
Minor release to COMMUSIC folk on my "Unreleases" 90-min cassette.
Dubbed the cassette track to 8track, FSK sync to MAC thing. Big
percussion c/o Kurzweil. EMAX drone tamboura track drifts in and out.
Occasional EMAX stereo thunder, just for impact (no redeeming social
qualities). It's meant to nail your meters. The thunder, with
attendant lightning, was a big hit ;-) at the planetarium show.
Actual backward KZ flute w/delay comes in from time to time. Final
sweetening with the exact same identical EMAX stereo Fairlight
breathy vocal pad as used in 'Relentless'. Tsk.
Science fiction rock. No chord changes. Sounds big, null content.
TOM BENSON
Jenny's Lullaby
- a lullaby written for friends of ours who are new parents, and
given to them on the baby's first birthday.
Fatboy and Chubs Theme
- a theme song for an imaginary Saturday morning cartoon, based on
a comic book a friend of mine did. As you can probably guess,
they are two overweight superheros. They have utility belts
filled with Hostess Ho-ho's, licorice (rope), etc, and one of
Fatboy's powers is microwave vision. To clarify the lyrics,
The Lunchbox is their hideout.
These were all done using Dr. T's KCS on an Atari ST, with a Korg DSS-1
and Roland D110. The lullaby also had a bit of Kawai K1m.
Tom
RICH COCCOLI
All songs written and performed by Rich Coccoli/Paul Gierman
Everyman copywritten 1990/Autoerotica copywritten 1989 by Coccoli/Gierman.
From the collective work " My Secret Life or How I Survived The Nuclear Age",
copywritten by Coccoli/Gierman 1990
These two songs were recorded at Mannik Studio, Snug Harbor, Staten Island.
Big thanks to Marsha and Ray for putting up with us (no small feat), taking
our money(quite easy), and feeding us brie and crackers(yum).
The equipment:
Roland D110 (for most of the sounds)
Kawai K1r (for strings)
Emax (bass and snare drums on "Everyman")
Voyetra (horns in "Autoerotica")
Korg M1 (snare drum in "Autoerotica")
HR 16 (for hi-hats)
DX7 II (for added bass layer in both songs)
Atari 1040 St running Creator/Notator smpte'd to the 8 track.
Various effect devices, including the dreaded Digitech MSP4 "flange o' matic".
The synths were synched to the smpte striped track on the eight-track tape
and went straight to dat without any noise reduction. Interesting effect
to hear the analog tracks "catch up" with the midi when starting a song in
the middle. Ain't technology weird.
The Songs:
Everyman (Paul on vocals)
Written together in Paul's living room after an extremely festive summer
bar-b-que, this song pretty well sums up the type of music we are into
composing/performing. I re-vamped the guitar solo and backing while in the
studio, trying to get a more "live" feeling.
Autoerotica (Paul on lead vocals..Rich on backing)
A favorite with our fans. We've plans to do a video of this in early
summer, 1991. It's about a cross between the robot woman from Fritz Lang's
"Metropolis" and a vintage Chevy. Don't ask me any more. It gets nebulous.
The kyoto solo at the end was done with my Casio MG510 midiguitar. I find it
comical.
Enjoy,
Rich Coccoli
The Pariah Effect is
Paul Gierman..vocals, sax, flute and programming
Rich Coccoli..vocals, guitar, synths, programming and sound creation
EDD COTE
"Rumble" - written by Chick Corea, Not Bernie's Publishing Inc.
(c) 1986, GRP Records, Inc.
Originally performed on "Elektrik Band" by Chick Corea and Dave Weckl.
Listen to this piece LOUD!!!
I've been working on this for what seems like an eternity, but probably
comes close to a year. The drum sequencing alone took me the best part of a
month, and is still subject to tweaks.
My performance is a combination of real time and step time. I'm shameless
in my use of quantization and micro-editing.
Instrumentation:
Drums: Alesis HR16
Bass: Yamaha TX81Z, layered.
Electric Piano: Yamaha TX81Z
Lead Synth: Yamaha DX21, layered, different porto-rates.
Brass: Ensoniq Mirage
Pad: Roland MKS30
FX: Alesis MVII (Drums, ambience)
Roland DEP-5 (lead synth, echoes)
Mixers: Korg 602, Peavey XR-1200
Monitors: Ohm E speakers, Koss HV1-A phones
Sequencer: Roland MC-500
Critic: aja the cat
All patches created by me.
Mixed direct to stereo cassette. Something went wrong in the mix-down, and
I've yet to find out what. I often check the mix in "mono" mode while in the
studio, and found no problems. However, when I moved the cassette to a different
system and played it back in mono, ALL the bottom drops out, leaving the piece
all but unlistenable. C'est la vie...
TOM JANZEN
These three selections were automatically generated by my
AlgoRhythms computer program. It is about 3000 lines of C for
the Amiga. AlgoRhythms is a windowed graphical environment
for automatic composition. The user specifies overall form,
musical scales, rhythmic boundaries, and MIDI. Form is
defined as the separate slow sinusoidal variation each of
mean pitch number, pitch number range, mean velocity number,
velocity range, mean duration, duration range, texture (how
many voices play at once), giving seven sine waveforms.
Range is displayed as a vertical thickness of the mean
waveform, enabling the seven parameters to be displayed as
4 waveforms. Random pitches, velocities, and durations are
found within their current respective ranges. Static forms
are made by specifying extremely long wavelengths for the
form sinusoids. There was no post-editing or adjustment.
AlgoRhythms improvises in real time direct-to-tape. The
sounds were created by MIDI synthesizers.
My own TX81Z patch loading software was used to load the
instrument set-ups.
o Piano Concerto 6:00
This is an excerpt of a 20-minute form. I seem to recall
that it is all on the white keys, like the Kurzweil demo
at the Computer Museum. Of 16 maximum voices, every other
voice is a piano. The remaining voices are miscellaneous
orchestra-instrument-like sounds. AlgoRhythms permits
transposition during playing, and I could have made use of
this to lend a harmonic progress to the work.
o Gamelan 3:00
A static form with four voices (flute and mallet
instruments) playing as fast as they can.
o JAM2 3:00
This static form is calculated to resemble free jazz from
a jazz quintet. I recall that it uses either a Hungarian
minor or melodic minor scale. The two top voices ("sax",
"trumpet") use a synthesizer feature to play in parallel
intervals. A guitar-like sound fills the middle while a
bass-like sound accompanies. A cymbal is hit irregularly.
BILL GRUNDMANN
All of these songs were done with a Macintosh SE, Sonus
MacFace, 2 Roland MT-32s, and a Roland Juno-1 which are
mixed with a stereo resistive mixer. I used some home-brew
sequencing software I call Music Machine.
The songs include the mix. There is no master tape, I just
run off copies directly from the system as I need them.
They're all written in my sequencer language. I never needed
to play a keyboard to do them (but I did doodle on the
keyboard to try out various ideas).
disco very
----------
Fooling around with using short notes percussively, and
cramming brief dissonances in front of notes in the melody,
it evolved from there.
bass |:
bass C--- Eb--/ G--. Bb-F-
bass |: Eb--- F--/ G../ Eb-D- :|x2
bass C--- Eb--/ Ab--. Bb-F-
bass |: Eb--- F--/ G../ Eb-D- :|x2
bass :|x2
The intro is fragments of the bass line, which eventually
become continuous. The middle section is filled with a bell
tone pattern that has a cycle of 9 notes phasing against the
4/4 beat. There's a transposition at the start of the middle
section, but because the melody is missing and the bass is
minimal, it sort of hangs in limbo until the end of the
middle section. When the melody re-enters, the transposition
feels complete. I was pleased to discover how that resulted
in a sort of tension to occur throughout the middle. I guess
the off beat open high hat is sort of disco-ish, thus the
name. Lots of reverb on this one, which is over-powering on
headphones, but which works pretty well on speakers...
CBabbage
--------
The tone sequence C B A B B A G E is used at various speeds
and retrograde, to form the basis of this song. Why this
sequence? Computers? Charles Babbage? I don't know, it just
came out this way.
clocks are skiing
-----------------
I was playing with the MT32's Hi Bongo, Rim Shot, and Hand
Clap to make ticking clock sounds. Making the tempo 120
beats per minute helps the effect. I used some sysex
commands to the MT32 to control the master volume to achieve
the fade-in and fade-out. The echoes are spaced at dotted
1/16ths intervals. I alternated channels to side step a
problem with some of the echoed notes prematurely clipping
off the main melody's notes. That was easier than changing
the MT32's note assignment mode.
part3 chan5, p,
part3 cue part3a 1/32,... chan6,
part3 cue part3a 1/32,... chan5,
part3 cue part3a 1/32,... chan6,
part3 cue part3a ||
The echoes intermingle into patterns that are high speed
versions of fragments of the melody. I enjoy listening to
this pattern at various speeds, it has a kind of fractal
nature to it, being interesting at different scales of
tempo.
schematically, if you numbered the notes:
1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9 main melody
...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9 echo 1
......1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9 echo 2
.........1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9 echo 3
1..12.123123423453456456756786789789.89..9 combined effect
A Fistful of Fives
------------------
This is based on the number five. The basic rhythm is 5/4,
and the repeated patterns are mostly five measures long:
bass |: E--- D--- --G- --D- --B- :|x5
snare |: ../. .... /... ../. ../. :|x5
bassd |: /... ../. .... /./. /./. :|x5
The glissandos are explicitly typed-in sequences:
sweep3 chan3, prog125, 1/16, fff, {3 C#4D# F#G# A#C# D#F# G#A# C#D# } ||
air gap
-------
This is supposed to be a high tension piece. Picture an
electric spark jumping across an air gap.
There are two basic rhythmic sections, one in 4/4 with the
snare beats in the wrong places (relative to standard
rock!), and one in 10/4 with the beats somewhere... Although
it repeats, there is no familiar pattern. My goal is to make
it feel out of balance and unexpected.
ride |: /./. ../. ../. ../. ../. ../. ../. ../. :|x8
snare |: ../. .... /... .... .... /... .... /... :|x8
bass |: /... ../. ../. ../. /... ../. /./. ../. :|x8
ride |: /./. ../. ../. ../. ../. ../. ../. ../. ../. ../. :|x7
snare |: ../. .... ../. .... /... .... .... /... .... /... :|x7
bass |: /... ../. /... ../. ../. ../. /... ../. /./. ../. :|x7
The section in 10/4 has chords that are in 7/4. The chord
pattern gets in phase with the drums just as the section
ends.
The ending is a repetition of the 10/4 section, with the
last beat removed from each pass, until nothing remains but
one beat's worth of a fragment. I hope it might bring forth
the vision of an electric charge building up until finally
it jumps the air gap.
EIRIKUR HALLGRIMSSON
Rain
(for David Orin, 1946-1989, pillar of the COMMUSIC community)
I The Storm
II The Meaning of Home
III Coda
Triumph
(for Betsy Bennett)
MICHAEL WOLFE
Midnight Vibrations
On Top Of It
Studio: Otari MX5050 8 track, Otari MX5050 4 track, Pioneer RT1050 2 track,
Teac V670 cassette, Alesis Quadraverb, two Boss BX80 mixers
Listening Equipment: Adcom GFA545 amplifier, Hafler preamp, B&W DM330 speakers,
Quart Phone 30 headphones
Instruments: Korg Poly 61, Ovation 6 string acoustic, Epiphone hollow body
electric, Fender Squier bass, Roland R5 drum machine
|
| Welcome to COMMUSIC IX, The Great White Wonder. Thanks to all the submittors
for sending in their tapes and their patience in waiting for this thing to get
finished. Now on to the liner notes:
SIDE ONE
Errol Phillips
O'SAMBA
Instruments:
-Ibanez Bass
-Yamaha Nylon String Guitar
-Korg M1 (Flute, Elect. Piano and synth)
-Roland U220 (Congas and percussion)
-Alesis HR16 (Drums)
I wrote this especially for COMMUSIC VIII, the previous tape but withdrew my
submission at last minute. Anyway, I wanted to do something that allowed
me to play my bass and guitar and of course use my PPS-1 to do tape sync. I
listened to a lot of Brazilian music growing up and I enjoy playing and writing
with that feel so I wanted to put a piece on the tape that reflected that.
I created the melody for the head (verse) then I used my guitar for
arranging the chords and added chord for the other sections for which
I had no melody at the time. I created four bars of the basic rythmn on the
HR16 got a tempo I liked and recorded the sync tone to tape.
I then recorded the guitar and bass parts. While they were no more than
a couple takes each, that process took about ten hours. I had problems
recording the signal however once I figured out that I should not put bass
next to the sync tone, I was in good shape.
The solos are all first takes and rest of the melody just sort of fell
in place. The only change I have made to the original is change part
of the melody to the bridge.
While this song was done simply to try out my PPS-1, it has turned out to
be the favourite of everyone who have listened to my tape.
ISLAND PEARL
Instruments:
-Korg M1 (Guitar, Flute, Pads, Drums)
-Roland U220 (Bass, Organ, Steel Pan, Congas and percussion)
-Alesis HR16 (Hi-Hats)
This song was one those things that just popped out of my first session
with the M1. The intention was to ease into a calypso and then ease back
out. The calypso section is reminiscent of the calypsoes of the 50's.
BTW: Pearl is my mother who encouraged me to play music and helped support
my early music habit. She also helped me hide my quatro from my father.
CYRIL'S CASTIAN
Instruments:
-Venezuelan Cuatro
-Korg M1 (Lead bass, Guitar, Elect. Piano, flugel horn, saxes)
-Roland U220 (Bass, castinets, pads)
-Alesis HR16 (Hi-hats)
This song like the name suggest is a castian or based on that form
anyways. This music was played quite a bit in Trinidad when I was growing
up and came from the spanish influence in the island. This music is still
played a lot of course in Venezuela and other South American countries.
The cuatro is four-stringed instrument about twice the size of a ukelele.
After my initial success with tape syncing I figured I go for it again with
the cuatro.
Incidently this song was composed in a music store, I was trying out
a U20 and the Fretless Bass patch just did it to me.
BTW: Cyril is my father, whom when I asked him to buy me a cuatro, demanded
that I was not to waste my time playing any musical intruments. Needless to
say I went out and bought a Mickey Mouse ukelele which I tuned like a cuatro
(the first four string of a guitar with a low E instead). He did buy first
electic guitar though, but that's another story.
CARIBE JUMP
Instruments:
-Korg M1 (Brass, Solo sax, Flute, Elect. Piano, Drums)
-Roland U220 (Bass, Organ, Congas and percussion, Sax (layered with brass))
-Alesis HR16 (Hi-Hats)
This is an experiment with the soca beat (soca is the new form calypso has
taken). Actually I sort of mixed things up a bit. The bass at times is
playing what could be a brass line, the bass drum and snare combined are
doing a guitar strum.
This acutally is one of the many dance type songs that I have done. I like
doing dance music as well as.......
Solo are as played no editing or punch-ins, cause I love to play. If I had
a decent guitar and mic and knew the first thing about recording I would do
the guitar leads but I could not come close to the M1's fidelity same for bass.
Tape syncing was done with a Porta 1. (To my chagrin)
Diclaimer: This music was done for my enjoyment, others who have heard it
throught no fault of mine have convinced me that I should even let others
hear it.
This is my first attempt at finishing some off the many ideas that I have
laying around in my head and my Voyetra sequencer.
Tom Benson
All of my contributions were recorded on a Tascam 246 4-track, and
sequenced using Dr T's KCS on an Atari ST.
Polka Divine
An 'audio Christmas card' I did a couple of years ago. It explains
how the angels brought Polka to the world to share their joy at
Christmas. Roland D110 and Korg DSS1 sampler.
Relics of a Future Civilization
This was done for a friend of mine to accompany a piece of artwork
she did, of the same name. It probably helps to see the art.
Kawai K1m, D110, DSS1.
Curious Goods
I had been doing a lot of midi-only stuff when I remembered that
the reason I got into it to begin with was as accompaniment for
guitar and violin. So Curious Goods was an attempt to get back to
that. Much more time was spent on the sequencing than the guitar
playing, though... This got 'honorable mention' in Guitar Player
magazine's last reader's tape contest. Proteus 1 and Roland D110,
with Gibson L6-S guitar and T.F.Barrett electric violin.
Steve Sherman
1. "How It Goes" - 4:07
2. "Ones and Zeros" - 5:50
"Copyright 1991 by Steve Sherman", blah, blah, blah.
Equipment: MC50, D70, a spectrum analyzer, eyes, fingers, mind and ears.
Comments: No comments. I like my stuff, so there. Hope I get rich ... ;^)
Thomas E. Janzen
Selections from "Kunst der Fuge" ("The Art of Fugue")
all selections
copyright (c) 1750 Johann Sebastian Bach All Rights Reserved
All selections were played one part at a time at low tempo
into a sequencer and edited for clean up.
All selections (P) 1991 Thomas E. Janzen All Rights Reserved.
1. "Day Book" for orchestra (excerpt) 2:30
copyright (c) 1979 Thomas E. Janzen
Arrangement and Sequencing: T. Janzen
Production, recording, and synth programming: Len Fehskens.
(Thanks Len!)
This is the Contrapunctus (or Fuga) I for four voices. It was
transcribed about 15 years ago from the Kalmus pocket score,
which used C clefs for the top soprano, alto and tenor. This
work does not appear on my albums "The Nearly Complete Works"
because I do not have the resources to record it. I played
each of 13 parts from a keyboard controller. Some reverb is
used. The orchestration is motivic. Every motif in the fugue
was classified as a member of one of about 6 motivic families.
The orchestra was likewise divided into about 6 families of
sounds. The two families were aligned; every time a motif
is heard, it is heard in the same family of instrumental
sounds. I recall that percussion is used to accentuate subject
entrances. This approach is somewhat different from Webern's
in the Ricercata from Bach's Musical Offering; Webern
partitioned that fugue's subject into three groups. Within
each of many statements of the subject, he assigned the same
instrument to each group. Different statements used the same
groupings, but different instruments. Most other counterpoint
went to the string section, until the end when Webern caved in
and made a traditional heavily-weighted finish. In this Fugue,
I have assigned motifs by color throughout subject statements
and answers, as well as counterpoint.
My score from 1979 is on vellum (for ozalid ammonia-based
printing on heavy stock paper) and was my last score drawn in
permanent ink using templates and straight edges. Except for
lettering, it looks better than most computer-printed scores.
I had to stop doing that; it took forever to copy a score.
2. Fuga a 2 Clav 1:55
From the Carl Czerny's reduction for piano of Art of Fugue.
The polyrhythms resemble those that open Act II Scene 2 of
Porgy and Bess, so I used hand drums to highlight the
rhythms. There are no effects, and the two claviers
are separated by channel (left/right).
3. Fugue 3 for 4 voices 2:22
I used an automatic round-robin voice assignment to
complicate the rhythms. This fugue was #2 in the
Berlin autograph.
SIDE TWO
Rick Ryen
INCOGNITO
This is one of my favorite Spyra Gyra tunes.
I step-time sequenced the song from a score.
I was not pleased with the sound of the alto-sax
part in the early part of the song, and found it
difficult to get the feel of a real alto sax. So,
I used a preset called "RB's Wine", which sounds like
somone running a wet finger on the top of a wine glass.
This put the sax part in more the background, but the
melody can still be heard. I suspect that my choice
of preset will be disturbing to some, but it works for me.
ZOOP
This is one of my first attempts at an original
composition for keyboard. I acquired the basic drum
patterns from a Roland drum pattern library. I selected
different patterns, and then modified the selection of
percussion instruments. I also created a number of custom
percussion sounds, primarily by reversing the samples. My
Proteus was new to me, and I enjoyed playing with these
"new" sound modification gadgets. The song is called ZOOP,
because that is what some of the reversed drum timbres sound
like to me. I'm not a keyboard player, and this song is an
example of my novice (real-time) keyboard chops. The chord
pattern is similar to a run from the Ventures song,
"Walk Don't Run". I purposely kept the structure of the
song simple, because I didn't want to create any contrast
with my obviously weak chops.
John Arnold
Industrial/Polyphony
Copyright 1991 John E. Arnold and Gordon B. Arnold
part 1 by John E. Arnold
part 2 by Gordon B. Arnold
produced by the Arnold Brothers, August/September 1991
Industrial/Polyphony was written, performed, and produced from August ??
to September 1, 1991. Track 1 (the opening percussion part) was entered in
step time and `humanized.' Track 3 was entered via a Roland Pad-80
(Octapad II) in real time. All other parts were entered via a Roland A-80
controller in real time. Volume settings for the tracks were entered
using the continuous controller editing tools provided by the sequencer
(Master Tracks Pro v4.5.3 for the Macintosh).
This piece is the first time that my brother and I worked strictly with a
sequencer as our `recorder.' The first time these sounds hit tape was when
I dubbed a copy to give to Brian Rost for the COMMUSIC IX master tape.
The primary sound source used is a Kurzweil 1000PX with the optional
soundblock A. The background bagpipe snippet was generated using an
Ensoniq EPS-M sampler (sample purchased from greytsounds) providing the
only part NOT produced by the Kurzweil in real-time. The reverb is a
Lexicon LXP-1. Part 2 of this piece really highlights the 24-note
polyphony of the Kurzweil. I honestly have no idea if there is any
note-stealing going on but, if there is, I certainly can't hear it.
For those interested in such things, the following is the track sheet from
the sequencer when the track was completed:
Track/Chan Patch Name (most are presets, some customized)
1 Out To Lunch
2 Pirates Strings
3 Cymbals
4 Organ
5 Bridge piano (this track was not used)
6 Horns
7 Piano 1
8 Piano 2
9 Acoustic Bass
10 Flute
11 Clarinet
12 Piano and Slow Strings
13 Strings
14 Argyle Bagpipe
Brian Rost
These pieces are typical of the sort of thing I muck about with for fun. I
usually noodle on the keys for awhile, come up with a line I like, load it into
the sequencer and then try adding other parts, etc. Basically it's just an
improvisation that I have the ability to go back and edit; I don't think of it
as composition, as it's too scattered. I keep working on pieces until they
sound either finished or too mangled to warrant further effort (I've got plenty
of the latter).
"Scriabin"
Alexander Scriabin was a Russian composer who died just before the First World
War. He is considered one of the central links in the chain that led from
tonal music to atonal music, not to mention that he was a real weird character
who was into music as a way of elevating consciousness. Too bad he died long
before the Summer of Love. In his last composition, "Prometheus", he invented
his "mystic chord", a stack of fourths, which looks like this with a C root: C,
F#, Bb, E, A, D. I used this chord as the basis for this piece. I guess I've
been listening to "Music From the Hearts of Space" too much.
"Get A Whiff Of This"
On his last tour stop in Boston, Kitaro dropped over my house to quaff a few
brews and talk about the influence of Okinawan rap music on the compositions of
Glenn Branca. We got a bit carried away, pretty soon we ran out of beer and
went on to harder stuff. Shortly before he glued his mustache to the table
while sniffing Crazy Glue, Kit banged this out on my synth. Luckily, I still
had enough brain cells left to think of turning on the sequencer to record
this. It needed a bit of quantizing, but otherwise, it's what he played before
vomiting all over the keyboard (which is audible at the end of the piece).
Bill Grundmann
program name song title playing time
Astral Fountain Ocean Once a Canoe 4:55
Jazz Fountain jetway 7 9:28
Astral Fountain is a program I wrote, which accepts any
title and uses it to generate sequences of numbers which
select the voices, notes, fade rates, etc. Several voices
can be active at once. They each go through a sequence: they
are born, live a while, and die. Then new ones take their
places. Everything is predetermined at birth. Voices are in
two basic classes: legato and stacatto.
Legato voices swell up, hold, then fade out. They play two
notes throughout. Sometimes the swell control also controls
pitch bend.
Stacatto voices continuously play a melody which fades in,
holds, and fades out. The melody is generated by a state
machine that steps through a sequence of intervals. If the
sequence ends up on the same note as it started, the melody
simply repeats throughout the voice's life. If not, the
melody walks up or down the scale. When it hits an extreme
high or low pitch, all the intervals are reversed, and it
walks back the other way.
Jazz Fountain is an earlier attempt at writing a program
that writes music. It is more strongly forced into a form.
The chords are generated by stacking thirds. The bass line
is a sampling of the chord roots with scale steps inserted
in between. The bass rhythm is a combination of fixed
patterns (plus a few random ones) which are randomly cut and
pasted together. The melody is generated similarly, just a
little looser. The drums are selected from a small list of
patterns. There are a few fills that get used when the song
moves into a new section.
Sections are randomly constructed from single measure pieces
that are chained together. Chunks of previously played
chains are randomly replayed. This generates an interesting
mixture of repetition and novelty. There is a "stuck"
detector that notices things have gotten stuck in a loop,
and it kicks into a new section by changing a bunch of
things all at once, most importantly, the chord progression.
|